Drexel Has Right Stuff to Make Run

Drexel attackmen Scott Perri (pictured) and Robert Church
combined for 54 goals and 28 assists last year.

Looking at the Division I men's lacrosse landscape, it's easy to
see the usual suspects playing roles in the NCAA tournament's
Memorial Day weekend. How would anyone with adequate knowledge of
the game not see some of the big boys coming? How would they not
figure on bluebloods such as Syracuse and Virginia sharing the
final four stage?

Part of the fun in February is trying to see the invisible train
coming, the team that will defy so-so expectations and land in the
season's last weekend as a major surprise. The encroaching parity
in the game pretty much dictates that someone unexpected will go on
a late-season roll, pull off an upset or two in the postseason, and
end up blowing up the tournament bracket.

History says it probably will happen this spring.

There was unseeded Massachusetts ending up in the 2006 title
game. Unseeded Delaware started its stunning final four run in 2007
by destroying defending champion Virginia in the first round. A
year ago, Notre Dame, playing stifling defense and riding goalie
Scott Rodgers, knocked off higher-seeded Maryland and Cornell, and
pushed Duke into overtime before falling in the championship game.
How many people remember Notre Dame lost seven games, went 2-4 in
the Big East and was the highly controversial "last team in" on
selection Sunday?

Who's it going to be in 2011? Stony Brook isn't exactly a secret
anymore. Hofstra is loaded with scoring options and experience.
Maybe it's Army, which should not be dismissed from the postseason
discussion, even after the Black Knights dropped a surprising
season opener to UMass. Maybe it's Denver, behind a terrific attack
unit and second-year coach Bill Tierney, who has devised a few good
game plans in May in his time.

For now, we'll take a stab at the Drexel Dragons. Under
second-year coach Brian Voelker, Drexel has the right stuff,
starting with a proven defense led by 6-foot-2 junior goalkeeper
Mark Manos, who intimidates with his stick work and his 270-pound
presence in the net. Attackmen Robert Church and Scott Perri
combined for 54 goals and 28 assists last year.

"[Drexel] has the formula," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia,
whose second-ranked Cavaliers open the season Saturday against the
visiting Dragons, who upset Virginia in 2007. "They've got a pair
of 40-point scorers [Church and Perri], some all-conference
defenders and a great goalie.

"One of these [unexpected] teams is going to bust through and
get to the final weekend. You almost have to assume it. The one
thing you can predict is that something unpredictable is going to
happen."

'Smell the roses,' Starsia tells players

Starsia is trying to guide Virginia to its first crown since
2006, and he has been preaching a message to his players,
especially his small and superb senior class, led by midfielders
Shamel and Rhamel Bratton and goalie Adam Ghitelman.

Don't get so caught up in winning it all. Work harder than ever,
but enjoy your final season at Virginia in one-day
compartments.

"I've got to keep an eye on their emotional state," Starsia
said. "Sometimes seniors in their position can let things get to
them, like having a bad day at practice or not finishing a drill
the right way. If you think [winning a title] is a way to prove
your self-worth, you're missing something. Smell the roses. Take
care of this moment, then the next moment. Take the season in small
doses."

It's hard not to envision the Cavaliers in the thick of the
championship scrum, despite being relatively inexperienced at the
defensive end. On paper, no one has the offensive weapons Virginia
has, from the Brattons to attackmen Steele Stanwick and Chris
Bocklet. It's why coaches pegged the Cavaliers with the top ranking
in the preseason United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association
(USILA) Division I preseason poll.

The seniors have produced a 45-9 record and three consecutive
trips to the tournament semifinals.

Shay now the Ivy's elder statesman

The Ivy League, after sliding deep in mediocrity in the 1990s
– Princeton being the exception under then-coach Bill Tierney
– has dug its way back to prominence in the past decade. No
one will be shocked if three of the league's seven schools push
their way into the NCAA tournament.

But a strange thing has happened in the coaching ranks. The Ivy
League has become very young. Over the past two years, Tierney has
moved on to Denver. Jeff Tambroni left Cornell for Penn State, and
John Tillman cut short his promising rebuilding effort at Harvard
to take the job at Maryland.

The dean among the league's coaches is now Yale's Andy Shay, who
in seven previous years guided the Bulldogs to a 45-49 record,
including a 10-4 finish and a share of the Ivy crown in 2010.
Brown's Lars Tiffany, entering his fifth season, is the league's
second-most tenured coach.